Crater Lake National
Park managers are working with the state of Oregon to
determine if water from a well drilled last summer can be
used to meet the park’s water needs.

During the visitation
heavy summer months, Supt. Craig Ackerman said the park
needs up to 60,000 gallons of water a day. All water
presently comes from Annie Creek.

Because the park has a
low priority among water users — it ranks 28th — calls for
water lastsummer
by the Klamath Tribes, which have priority water rights,
created concerns the park might have to close. Ackerman said
trucking water to the park was not feasible because it would
have cost $900,000 a month.

“The furor was great
over the potential of closing the park,” he said, noting the
park has more than a half-million visitors annually, and is
important economically for neighboring cities, including
Klamath Falls, Chiloquin, Chemult and others in and near
Roseburg and Medford.

A possible scenario
also called for
closing park restrooms.

“We’re trying not to
have porta-johns spread out across the park,” Ackerman said.

The state water
resources board, however, authorized water for human
consumption as part of a decision that also provided water
for livestock by regional ranchers.

The park, in cooperation
with Xanterra, implemented programs to reduce water use,
including retrofitting all water fixtures with low-flow
devices.

Because projections call
for possible low water years, Ackerman said National Park
Service hydrologists used geological studies to determine
possible sites for a new well — one that will not affect
lake water levels. Based on results at a 505-foot deep test
well near the Highway 62 junction with the Union
Peak-Pacific Crest Trail, if developed, the well can provide
four times more water than the park needs during peak use
periods.

Ackerman said talks
about permitting the well are ongoing with state officials.

CRATER LAKE — Ongoing
impacts from federal sequestration, automatic spending cuts
that took effect earlier this year and are expected to continue in 2014, may mean
cutbacks in programs at Crater Lake National Park.

Supt. Craig Ackerman said
the ongoing automatic cuts created by sequestration and an
expected 1 percent federal pay raise will impact the park’s budget by $100,000 to
$150,000 in 2014, or 2 to 3 percent of the park’s current
operating budget of $5 million. Combined with previous cuts, the
new cuts would mean the park’s budget has been reduced more than
$500,000 since 2012.

This year’s sequestration
cuts were handled by not fillingsome vacant positions that
resulted from transfers or retirements. He said the next round
will likely result in the continued closure of the Lost Creek
Campground, eliminating most seasonal positions and halting
non-essential snowplowing, which means the East Rim Drive would
be required to melt on its own.

“You are likely to see a
significantly reduced presence at the park,” Ackerman said.

Future budget reductions at
Crater Lake, Oregon’s only national park, could result in cuts
to permanent staff that might result in combining various jobs.
1,200 school youth were
turned away because of gov. shutdown

Ackerman said it’s unknown
if the ongoing impasse over the federal budget will result in
another federal government shutdown in January. He said last
summer’s 16-day shutdown resulted in the loss of an estimated
$15,000 to $25,000 in park entrance fees, and also impacted
income to Xanterra, the park concessionaire that operates the
Crater Lake Lodge and other park facilities, and the Crater Lake
Trolley. Xanterra officials estimated the shutdown cost the
company more than $300,000.

Ironically, the lost fees
and visitation came during a year that, based on early figures,
was among the busiest. Receipts from park entrance fees and
Crater Lake Natural History Association outlets were higher than
in previous years.

“I’ve never seen it so
busy,” Marsha McCabe, the park’s chief of interpretation, said
of last summer’s visitation.

McCabe said the parking area
by the administration building was opened to handle overflow
parking in the Munson Valley area. At times, Rim Village was
closed because their parking areas were completely filled.

She also lamented an impact
of the federal shutdown, noting more than 1,200 school youth who
had planned visits through the school-in-the-parks program were
turned away — “That was one of the saddest parts of the
closure.” Efforts were made to fill openings when the park
reopened, but not always successfully.

lee@heraldandnews.com

Water quality worries

Concerns about invasive
species possibly impacting Crater Lake’s water quality are
causing park officials to look at permanently banning scuba
diving and other lake activities.

“I don’t think anybody wants
to see the water quality go down or to see the water anything
but blue,” Crater Lake National Park Supt. Craig Ackerman said
of ongoing concerns about the lake quality. Based on various
studies, Crater Lake has the best quality of any lake in the
United States.

The videos of people scuba
diving and swimming across the lake went viral, resulting in a
flurry of requests for similar outings. Unless the park can
perform tests to ensure tanks, fins and other gear have no
invasive species — something he said the park cannot afford to
do — it’s possible an invasive species could enter the lake.

While some critics discount
whether various invasive species could survive the lake’s
bitterly cold winters, Ackerman noted people a century ago also
questioned whether fish planted in the lake by William Steel,
the “Father of Crater Lake,” could reproduce.

“Look what happened,” he
said of the lake’s still prolific fish populations.

H&N file photo

A waterfall along one of
the many trails at Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake is
protected and therefore its waters are not used for park
operations. Instead, the park draws 69,000 gallons of water
daily from streams. That water is in jeopardy of being cut
off.

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